St Andrew Goldfields Heart of gold
www.sasgoldmines.com
St Andrew Goldfields
Heart of gold Jacques Perron, president and CEO of St Andrew Goldfields, talks about the company’s progress in bringing three mines into production in the Timmins area of Ontario, and prospects for further development
Gold pour
St Andrew Goldfields
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he city of Timmins in northeast and 100,000 oz. in 2012. Having properties Ontario celebrates its centenary within close proximity allows the company this year. Founded in 1912 by to maximize the efficiency of its processing Noah Timmins after gold was resources. “We process the feed from all found in the Porcupine Camp, it three mines at the Holt mill,” says Perron, has since earned itself a reputation as the “which has a current rated capacity of city with a heart of gold, lying within the 3,000 tonnes per day at the moment.” The Abitibi greenstone belt, the heart of gold focus for 2012 is further ramping up and production in Canada. increasing production. Among the mining companies operating “Our success has been built on bringing in and around Timmins in the 21st century small projects into production quickly,” is St Andrew Goldfields Ltd. (SAS), a junior adds Perron. “We have handled these gold producer with three operating mines projects internally and have been working (Hislop, Holloway and Holt) and 120 km to develop our expertise before tackling of exploration ground in any major projects.” the Timmins District. Recent results have seen Exploration in 2011 resulted development going in the right direction. In Q4 of in a significant increase in resources and reserves, 2011 the company achieved and 2012 exploration will record gold production of continue to focus on highly 22,350 ounces, record cash prospective targets that flow from operations of Gold produced in 2011 lie near to the existing $13.9 million, and mine cash operations. costs of $772 per ounce. The Hislop mine is an open pit mine, Royalties of $137 per ounce take the cost while Holloway and Holt, acquired from figure just over $900, but as production Newmont Mining in 2006, are underground continues to ramp up at the Holt and operations. “Production commenced at the Holloway mines, SAS expects costs to Holloway Mine in October 2009, while continue to decrease to a target of around the Hislop Mine entered production at the $800 per ounce during 2012, with Holt beginning of the third quarter of 2010,” said contributing approximately 50 percent of Jacques Perron, president and CEO. “We annual gold production for 2012. started pre-production work on the Holt The Holt Mill was constructed in 1988, Mine in the second half of 2010 and entered originally designed for a throughput of 1,360 commercial production in April 2011.” tpd. Expansions in 1988 and 2001 increased SAS produced 74,022 ounces of gold in the throughput to 2,500 tpd and 3,000 tpd 2011 while the Holt mine was ramping up respectively. The mill was re-commissioned and expects to produce between 90,000 in September 2009, ahead of production
74,022 ounces
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St Andrew Goldfields
SAS offers interesting challenges to its people
from the Holloway Mine as the company mineral reserves, with near-term production entered into a custom milling agreement and relatively low capital requirements. In a with a nearby producer. Ore from Holloway, couple of years this should push production Hislop and now the Holt Mine is being to over 125,000 oz. of gold. shipped to the mill for processing, with the The Taylor Project is located 53 km mill currently at full capacity. east of Timmins, and approximately 68 Exploration continues, with mineral km by road west of the Holt Mill. SAS has reserves increasing to just over 0.7 million budgeted a minimum of $7 million on its ounces at 31 December 2012 exploration program, 2011, within measured and which will focus on targets indicated mineral resources that lie near the existing of 3.1 million ounces plus operations. inferred mineral resources “The significant increase of 2.1 million ounces of gold. of approximately one A pre-feasibility study on the million ounces in our level of resources from all categories Taylor project announced in February this year has clearly demonstrates that 2012 exploration budget our exploration efforts outlined 173,000 ounces of
$7
million
“We have a number of new discoveries that have the potential to turn into profitable ore bodies” are paying off,” says Perron. “We only commenced exploration efforts in 2010, so we are still in the early stages, but we have a number of new discoveries that have the potential to turn into profitable ore bodies. We have quite a large land position and as we continue to develop and perfect our geological model, we have been able to better target our efforts in order to reap the
best rewards. “ In common with many other mining operations, one of the biggest challenges facing SAS is the recruitment of qualified mining engineers and other key personnel, with a worldwide shortage of skills in the industry. The limited availability of skilled manpower held up mine development at the Holt mine in the first half of 2011.
St Andrew Goldfields
Holt with Holloway in the background
The implementation of an underground employee training program in the second quarter of 2011, coupled with improved equipment availability, helped to overcome this problem, resulting in a 36 percent increase in development productivity in the second half of 2011. “Our strategy has been to focus on offering competitive conditions,” says Perron. “We are a young organization and offer interesting challenges to our people. As we grow we can give people the opportunity to increase their own expertise and professional profile.” On 5 March 2012 St Andrew Goldfields commenced trading on the highest tier of the OTC (over-the-counter) market, the
OTCQX in the US under the symbol STADF. The company’s shares will continue to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol SAS. “Advancing to the highest tier of the OTC markets in the US will create an easier and more effective route for US shareholders and investors to access SAS. We have a large level of interest from the US, and we believe this will be mutually beneficial to increase our shareholder base in the US and increase trading activity in the stock,” concludes Perron. For more information about St Andrew Goldfields visit: www.sasgoldmines.com
St Andrew Goldfields
20 Adelaide Street East, Suite 801 Toronto ON M5C 2T6 Canada T 416-815-9855 www.sasgoldmines.com
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